Microsoft has tried to enhance the installation of its products by implementing the latest technologies. In the old days, we have used executable files that were quite capable of installing a product with a single click. However, in Office 2021/2019/2013/2016, Microsoft uses Bootstrapper technology. Bootstrapper is responsible for initializing an application built using the Composite Application Library.
Recently, while installing Microsoft Office, we came around the issue of installation failure due to Bootstrapper technology. We received the following error:
Microsoft Setup Bootstrapper has stopped working
A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close this program and notify you if a solution is available.
So as you can see in the error message shown above, Windows closes the program but it never notifies anything after that to solve this problem, and you have to manually fix it using the following steps:
Microsoft Setup Bootstrapper has stopped working
Before you commence, please create a System Restore point before trying this solution. Since making mistakes in the manipulation of the registry could result in messing up your system.
Completely uninstall your Office installation. This is important. Having done that, now do the following and see if it helps.
1. Press Windows Key + R combination, type put regedit in the Run dialog box and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor.
2. In the left pane, navigate here:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags
3. At this registry location, as shown in the above image, right-click over AppCompatFlags key and select Export.
Save this key as registration file at a convenient location on your system for backup purpose. Now right-click the same key, i.e. AppCompatFlags and select Delete.
You can now close the Registry Editor and reboot the machine.
After restarting the system, you should install Microsoft Office, in Clean Boot State.
Let us know if you were able to resolve your issue following this procedure.
Related read: Microsoft Office Professional Plus encountered an error during setup.
